Dolly Parton is one of the best songwriters of our time and she has written more than 1000 songs that range from ballads about growing up in the Smoky Mountains to passionate love songs. “Jolene”, “I Will Always Love You” and “Coat of Many Colors” are just a few of her many iconic hits.
Dolly also holds a place in popular culture beyond songwriting and singing. Her public persona is the image of a dumb blonde, but as she says “I know I’m not dumb and I also know I’m not blond”. The truth is she is charming, witty, shrewd, and a highly successful businesswoman and philanthropist. She’s also one of the few public figures who’s managed to appeal to all sides, with dedicated fans who are rural, urban, rich, poor, red and blue.
Dolly’s success was built on her powerful singing and songwriting and that’s what we’ll focus on in class. We’ll be listening to and learning some of Dolly’s big hits as well as a sampling of her less known songs. We’ll also learn about Dolly’s life, her fairy tale rags to riches story and her unique place in today’s culture.
Come join us and add some Dolly songs to your repertoire while we dig into the Dolly phenomenon that has helped define country music for more than 60 years. Singers of all levels are welcome.
Instructor Bio
Karen Collins is a coal miner’s daughter who grew up in the mountains of Southwest VA where she listened to a lot of country music on the radio and sang in the local Baptist Church. Today those country sounds can be heard in her singing and her songwriting that tell stories ranging from love and heartbreak to beltway traffic. Karen leads a honky tonk country band, Karen Collins & The Backroads Band and plays in an acoustic country quartet, The Blue Moon Cowgirls. Karen and the Backroads Band are currently working on their third recording of Karen’s original songs. While she enjoys playing honky tonks and dances, one of her passions is writing and singing about where she grew up. She was recently honored to sing at a Black Lung Vigil for retired coal miners in Washington, DC and at tributes to Hazel Dickens in Baltimore MD and Wheeling, WV.
Check out Karen at Augusta 2021: